Sweet Days of Early Fall

Hello, friends.  Last year, a potter friend gifted me several elephant ear bulbs.  Having no idea they bloomed, we were happily surprised to see it does, and there's another bud developing.  Last week, while in town, I ventured to the salvage store I hadn't been to since early in the year.  I found bags of both tri-color organic quinoa and organic lentils $1/#, organic barley $1.50/28 oz, a can of Amy's organic soup .50, and 6 packs of riced cauliflower for $4.  There was no more food than they had the last time I was in, but at least there were a few healthier things I could get for pantry storage.  Several books were returned to the library, and three more were picked up.  I used a $10 off $50 coupon at Tractor Supply to buy laying pellets, sunflower seeds, a mum and dog treats.   Because they were out of chicken scratch, my total came to just a few cents under $50, so I went and found a hummingbird feeder on clearance for $5.99.  

Online, I learned about a cold and flu remedy, and had all the plants here, so gathered yarrow, goldenrod, wild rose hips and mint to dry and keep on hand for tea.  I gathered muscadines, lettuce, eggplant, figs, hickory nuts, pears, a small tromboncino and two yellow squash with borers that the pups got the good bits of.  Needing to buy powder coat paint for our small business, I noticed they were having a $25 off $125 special, so bought just enough to qualify for that.  After an appointment, I went by a supposedly great thrift store I was told about.  It ended up being a consignment store, so prices were higher.  Though fairly large, I didn't find anything I needed.  I stopped at a nursery I've been wanting to check out for a few years, and picked up chard plants and some organic fertilizer.  I've had such bad luck growing chard this year, I don't want to count on the seeds I planted doing well, so this gives me some back up.  I've really missed having chard these past several months.  The broccoli, cabbage, and collard seedlings we planted several weeks ago are growing nicely.

With the comfortable fall temperatures recently, I got some things done outdoors.  There are several stages requiring different temperatures, when I'm powder coating orders.  I'd been keeping up with the times with paper and pen, but wanted a chalkboard in the new workshop.  I painted a board with chalk paint, and M created a frame and little shelf for the chalk and eraser, all of it using wood on hand.  Before the workshop was built, the powder coat oven lived along an outside wall of the guy's shop, so it had rusted pretty badly.  Once it got in the workshop, I knew I wanted to spruce it up, so cleaned it up with a wire brush and painted it last week.  J made a new latch for the oven and cut and placed a filter for the intake vent in the wall.  There are still a few things to do, but I'm happy about each little thing that makes it an easier and more pleasant place to work.  

I push mowed a number of areas that got missed by the riding mower all summer.  Our homestead is a hodgepodge of planted areas, not neat squares, so there are lots of little spots that are hard to get to.  They were push mowed once in the spring, but definitely needed it again.  I also worked a little on the garden fence, pulling down morning glory and virginia creeper vines.  It's been lovely not needing a/c since we got back from the beach.  We're in that in between season, where a/c or heat isn't needed.  I noticed a link to a list of movies on a blog I follow, and added several to my Netflix queue.  I enjoyed a free movie on Amazon prime, and watched the first episode of another that had been recommended, which ended up not being my cup of tea.  I added a free book from prime to my Kindle, and went through Swagbucks for 1% back for a business purchase.

We've been sprucing up things around the homestead recently.  Our kitchen sink faucet began failing a month or so ago, and just before we left for the beach, it broke enough that it wouldn't shut off.  J managed to cobble it together well enough to where it would work, but decided to purchase a new one.  The faucet had already broken several times, and though it had a lifetime warranty, he was tired of how often he was having to wait for and change out the parts, which was not an easy job.  Our old kitchen sink was a used one gifted to me when we were building the house, an enameled cast iron one that now had numerous chips and grout that needed redoing.  He decided to replace that too, and installed the new sink and faucet on Friday.  Earlier in the week, I saw hummingbirds at the feeders for several days, but not in the past few days.  I suppose they are headed south, but I'll leave the feeders up a bit longer for any stragglers.  Happy October, friends.  

A Trip to the Coast

Hello, friends.  Last week, J & I took a much needed break, and headed to the coast.  I brought a library book, and finished it, The 100 Years of Lenni and Margot, which I enjoyed.  I also brought a copy of Saving Jemima.  I'd been holding on to it, waiting for vacation to read it.  It was also an enjoyable read.  Several magazines, a Netflix movie and another book from home were also packed.  All breakfasts and lunches were eaten in our room (with kitchenette), and 3 of the 6 dinners.   We tried a new to us place for one dinner, which ended up being the best meal of all.  We'll be returning there.  Some food was brought from home, including our last watermelon, and some was purchased at the grocery store.  

We did our usual thrifting rounds, but did not find as much as in years past.  J found two pants, a shirt and two books.  I found a winter shirt, two linen shirts, a skirt, sheets, a pillowcase and two books.  Another thing I found was a box of artichoke steamer stands for .25.  After purchasing two artichokes, I realized I had no way to steam them there, so this was perfect.  I'd never known there was such a thing, but it worked well, other than not being able to put the lid on fully.  The largest pot provided in our kitchenette was not very large, needless to say.  I brought a good knife with me.  Next year, I'll also bring a steamer basket.  

The garden had been picked pretty well while we were gone, so there wasn't the usual harvest needed when we returned.  I harvested a couple of yellow squash.  There was a small tromboncino the borers had gotten into, so I cut off the wormy parts and grated it for the pups dinner.  There were two cucumbers, and a couple of small, sad tomatoes, and I picked the first lettuce.  A few muscadines were harvested in the past 10 days.  There are plenty of noodle beans, but there are still a good amount in the fridge, so I don't feel the need to harvest more.  J decided to clean up the garden on Sunday, so the noodle beans are now gone.  I can't say I'll miss them, lol.  Two loads of laundry were hung on the line the day after we returned, and I finally got around to working up a bed and planting carrots, beets, chard and lettuce.  It's very late, but you never know what the weather might do.  The goldenrod is blooming profusely.  I decided to gather some to use for dyeing.  Several pieces of cotton were scoured, and a pot of goldenrod started.  The first round of plants did not turn very yellow, so I gathered two more rounds, added them to the pot, and I'll let it sit overnight.  I'm so enjoying these cooler days and nights.  Wishing you beautiful days.   

The Last Sweet Days of Summer

Hello, friends.  Seeing this monarch caterpillar on some of the milkweed made me smile.  Last week, lemon balm was harvested to finish filling an already started jar of glycerite.  I gathered more stems of dock seed, and dried them for future baking.  Three trays of figs were dehydrated.  I'm thinking of baking fig bars during the cooler months, and came across a healthy, GF recipe I can use.  For several weeks now, I've been gathering hickory nuts as I come across them.  The best place is our driveway, as the vehicles run across them, and take the outer husk off, so each time I go to the mailbox, I gather some.  There are still some from last year I've not used, but they'll last a long time in their shells.

On Tuesday, I canned eggplant.  If I have more eggplant bounty, I intend to make caponata with at least some of it.  On a roll that day, I went ahead and canned up yellow squash too.  It felt good to catch up with those.  I also prepped the noodle beans, some while watching the canner.  All the end bits went into the vegi broth bag, which filled the 4th gallon bag.  Soon I'll need to be canning broth.  On that day, I was on the 9th and final day of an advanced Medical Medium cleanse.  I was worried my energy might be low, because on this final day, only liquids were allowed.  It turns out my energy was great, which has been the case throughout the protocol I've been doing, which tells me I'm on the right track in supporting my health.  My weight has dropped to 100, the lowest I've been in, well... decades, but still a good, healthy weight for my height.  I continue walking daily with the pups for exercise.

On Wednesday, after painting orders, I canned noodle beans, and froze red pepper.  Another day, I cut and dried several sweet peppers.  The ground is still quite dry here, so it has not been a stellar mushroom year.  Still, I found a few more small chanterelles on my walks and dried them too.  A juicer I tried, but didn't work for me, was returned to Amazon.  The tomatoes in the garden are pretty much done, but I'm still harvesting figs, eggplant, cucumbers, peppers, the last pawpaw and noodle beans.  The yellow and tromboncino squash are slowing down, but we're still getting a few of those.  Herbs have been harvested for meals, including basil, oregano and chives.  We enjoyed our watermelon.  I saved the seeds, and harvested our last one.  Our little home goods business has been booming, and we're looking forward to a little break.  Enjoy these last few sweet days of summer, friends.  

A Road Trip for J & A Dwindling Garden

Hello, friends.  Last week, J noticed I'll soon need new tires, and definitely will before my January inspection.  We'd heard tires may get difficult to come by, so he found a good sale, and we went ahead and purchased them.  I gathered potatoes from our outdoor potato stash, and all I could see were looking good.  I'm sure happy about that.   From the garden, I harvested tomatoes, yellow squash, yard long beans, figs, pawpaws, eggplant, a tromboncino, and a small butternut squash, which I believe is the last one.  I also harvested what I believe are the last of the hazelnuts.  The garden is definitely dwindling.

I took advantage of a 25% off sale, and stocked up on toothpaste and hand lotion, and got 3% back through Swagbucks.  One afternoon, I mended a sweater, pillowcase, and pair of shorts.  I cut two favorite pairs of cotton batik scrub pants that I'd worn the knees out of into shorts, and hope to hem them soon.  I went through Swagbucks for a couple of business orders, for 2% back each.   We shared pawpaws with a neighbor who asked about them.  His wife has been ill, and she loves them.  We were glad to share.  I froze the pulp from several.  On a wet morning, I caught up on number crunching... balancing my checkbook, books for our home goods business, and for J's business.  All laundry done this week was hung on the line.  Several chanterelles were harvested and dried, and another stem of dock seed.

J took a break on Friday, and went to Charleston to see the submarine, CSS Hunley, which was used during the Civil War.  He also visited a distillery that an old coworker works at.  After picking the garden, and powder coating orders on Friday, I headed to town for groceries and errands.  There were no great sales at the grocery store, but I stopped at Marshall's, and got two jars of raw honey, and found packs of organic spirulina, which I use in my smoothies, in the clearance area for $5.  They came to $1/lb, much less than the $3.41/lb plus shipping I've been paying, so that was a happy find.  I also found dried white mulberries marked down to $2.50, which are in a recipe I plan to try from Medical Medium.  That evening, I gave myself a little self care, including a manicure and a facial mask.  Yellow squash, beans, a tromboncino and some figs were shared with a friend.  Wishing you a lovely week, friends.

Labor Day Wishes

Hello, friends.  Last week, I was delighted to see a monarch in the garden.  It alighted on a cucumber plant, and kept me company for a few moments.  From the garden, I harvested a few tomatoes, some eggplant, peppers, yard long beans, yellow squash, a tromboncino, hazelnuts, pawpaws, purslane and apples.  I harvested and dried lambs quarter and two chanterelle mushrooms.  Since the rain midweek, I saw two more tromboncinos beginning.  We planted collards, broccoli, cabbage and lettuce seedlings that J purchased. It's just been that kind of year.  I shared yellow squash, beans, peppers, and a couple of pawpaws.  For my birthday, my spirit daughter sent me these beautiful flowers.  (We prefer spirit daughter to step-daughter).  

I grew up using a sponge to wash dishes, and still prefer it to a dish cloth.  Though it's not the most frugal choice, I've started a new habit that makes a little more use of it.  When it's time to replace the old one, I use it for wiping several dirty jobs, such as the trash can, baseboards, and dirty places on the doorframes and wall corners where the dogs rub (do other dogs do that??), before throwing it away.  I do keep some older ones to use in the bathroom, and one to scrub the occasional egg, but the dirty jobs idea is a new one that's uses them up a bit more.  Warm up and dehumidifier water were used for flushing and to water plants.  The bamboo cutting board was scrubbed with baking soda and homemade thieves vinegar, to cut down on the onion and garlic residue.

After delivering soap to a gallery, I went by Hallmark, and received a free card, while buying other greeting cards.  At Harris Teeter, I got a 3L tin of EVOO for $19.99.  This time I made sure I got the sale price before leaving, and also got the 5% senior discount on my total.  J made a hay spike to move the large round bales he recently bought.  We're planning on turning the road garden into a hay field, once we enlarge it some.  That was the field we tried wheat and peanuts in in past years, but the deer ate our crops, so hay seems like a better use of that spot.  The garden is a good ways from our house, and they're braver there.  M has been getting videos of the deer over there on his webcam regularly.  After making soup for lunch, using homemade broth, I froze the remainder.  A dish was made, using our potatoes, peppers, onions and garlic.  

consolation scene

On Friday evening, we picked up our GD just after she got off the school bus, headed to pick up dinner, and then to the Paperhand Puppet event.  We were the second group that arrived, so we had our pick of seats, and enjoyed a leisurely dinner there.  It took place in a lovely venue, an 100+ year old stone amphitheater in the woods.  The pre-show was a local  kora player.  Though I was the only one of our trio, I greatly enjoyed it.  Things went south from there.  Right about when the show was to have started, there was a local power outage, which wasn't expected to be resolved for several hours.  After several minutes, they did a short scene as a consolation, and cancelled the show.  We plan to try again in a few weeks.  J and our GD planted lettuce seeds, while she was here.  After dropping her home, we met dear friends at a winery, and had a most enjoyable afternoon catching up.  Wishing you a lovely Labor Day.  

Late Summer Days

Hello, friends.  I'm sending prayers that those in Louisiana, Alabama and Florida are safe, as I'm writing this Sunday night.  This storm coming on the anniversary of Katrina makes my heart heavy.  It seems there are so many things, coming at us from so many angles, it can be tough to find the bright side some days.  A happy note is last week, I saw a new to me bird at the feeder, a hooded warbler, which is not uncommon here, apparently.  It always cheers me to see more diversity on this land.  

The figs, yellow squash and yard long beans are coming in well.  One day, I made fig jam and fig sherry bread, which J requested.  For a dinner, I made yellow squash soup, and pulled homemade bread from the freezer to go with it.  On Tuesday I had a slower day, which allowed me to pick up and put away things, and give some attention to things that often get missed.  One of the things I did was pull everything off the day bed, and clean and polish it.  The next day, I dehydrated lambs quarter, plus a chanterelle I found on a walk, and wrapped soap.  With days mostly in the 90's, I did the majority of my outdoor chores early, then enjoyed being in the house.  

I made zucchini orzo with the last of the tromboncino, and an apple beet salad.  The asparagus sent up some late spears after last week's rain, so I harvested a few in spots that had plenty of other spears to feed the roots.  I harvested concord grapes, and made juice with them.  The pond garden became a jungle this year, and the butternut squash did poorly.  Several vines died, and a few small, immature squash were harvested.  The sweet potatoes are also in this garden, so our expectations are not high for them.  While out and about, I went by the discount grocery, and got organic and natural peanut butter 2/$1, organic beans .60, organic soup .40, glow sticks 2/$1.  Our basement is also our storm shelter, and I thought we'd appreciate having those sources of light, if we ever had to spend much time there.  While at the store, I was told they're phasing out food, to become a hunting and fishing shop, which saddens me.  J bought pork chops at the local, small grocery store for $1.68/#, which he says is a very good price for here.  

On the way home from visiting my sister, I had a hankering for pesto, so I gathered basil and purslane when I got home, and we had it with GF pasta and sliced tomatoes for dinner.  I needed to order paint for our small business.  When I began checking out, I saw a banner for $25 off, for just a few more dollars than I was spending.  By adding one more to my cart, I got almost 2 free, which was a nice bonus.  While cutting the grapes, I cut the tip off a finger of my gloves.  I mended it with super glue.  I have small hands, and the gloves were longer than my fingers, so this should work just fine.  One of the hot evenings, I mended a napkin, a pair of shorts, 2 reusable grocery bags, 5 pairs of J's work pants, and redid an uncomfortable neckline on one of my homestead shirts.  J brought me this bouquet of local sunflowers on Sunday.  He went to pick up two more bales of organic hay, and the man also sells sunflowers.  J created a vacuum chamber to "can" our dry goods, which worked wonderfully.  We were having issues with our old method, and this seems to work a lot better so far.  

I noticed the tendril of one of the watermelons had dried several days ago, so I harvested it Sunday.  I may have jumped the gun, as the patch that was on the ground looks more creamy than yellow.  I guess we'll find out.  Neither of us feels very confident in telling when a watermelon is ready.  This coming week, I'm looking forward to seeing Paperhand Puppet Intervention, which we're taking our GD to see.  I've seen a few of their puppets at various local events, but have never been to one of their shows.  It's at a lovely, old outdoor theater in the woods on the UNC campus.  After the next few days in the 90's, we're supposed to cool down some.  I'm surely looking forward to that.   J cooked potatoes, squash, eggplant and chicken on the grill.  I've been gathering vegan ice cream recipes, and made the first one, Vanilla Maple.   I subbed almond milk for the oat milk, and sadly, it tasted more of almonds than vanilla or maple, and not much of that.  I put some of my amaretto pear preserves on top, which helped.  Stay safe and well this week, friends.    

Flowers & A Feather

Hello, friends.  A downy woodpecker feather was noticed near the bird feeders.  The next day, I saw one of these woodpeckers on the feeder.  Just this summer, it was brought to my attention that it is a crime to have most bird feathers in your possession.  I've brought them home for years, to decorate wreaths, windowsills and vases, and never knew.  I can understand the logic behind it, though picking up a random feather seems innocent enough.  The juicer I've been using daily for a little over 3 months has started acting up and showing signs of wear.  I wrote the company, asking about replacement parts.  With recent experiences with customer service, I didn't expect much.  I was pleasantly surprised, and there are two parts on the way to me for free.  The chicken coop was cleaned, and mint was harvested and placed in nesting boxes and on the floor.

One night, I pulled out corn on the cob I'd frozen, to go with a yellow squash and kalamata dish, steamed cauliflower and sliced tomatoes, which was a dinner requested by J.   A couple of days last week, dock seeds were gathered to dry and grind for flour.  I've started doing some Christmas shopping, though I've only been given a few ideas so far.  Most often, family members give ideas from Amazon and other online shops, and with hearing about the port closures, I want to get a jump on it.  I'd put one of the presents in an online cart, but didn't purchase it, as it was late one night.  The next day, I received a 10% off coupon, and purchased it.  I've gotten an idea of something I can make my husband, as one of his gifts.  Black eyed pea salad was made for lunches, but our home canned crowder peas were used.  Pasta Norma was made with our eggplant, tomatoes, onion and herbs, with a green salad with figs, pecans and beauty berries.  Though it's not strictly wild, the birds planted the beauty berry I harvested from, and it grows along the walking path. Any time I can get some extra nutrition from wild foods is a plus.  Another night a green salad was made with cherries, pecans and figs.  I made a Medical Medium-friendly "vinaigrette" from the last of a jar of fruit sweetened black currant jelly and lemon juice.  It was surprisingly good.

The mesh bags from oranges have been saved, and put at the outdoor spigot, for washing buckets, chicken waterers and such.  For a dinner side, I roasted yellow squash with maple syrup and butter.  Three jars of herbal glycerites were strained and bottled.   We're having a hard time growing bell peppers this year, as they're being chewed on before ripening.  I found several that had fallen off, cut away the good bits, and dried them.  Pasta salad was made with our cucumber, tomatoes and herbs, plus black olives.  The figs are bountiful.  I had seen a photo of a fig clafouti that someone had made, and decided to make one, but the recipe I used was not a keeper.  Well, J likes it, and is eating it, so that's good.  When I called to order metal for our home goods business, I was told they would not be getting any more metal until some time in November, due to supply chain challenges.  Our business continues to do well, and it would really hurt us to run out of metal.  I placed a much larger than usual order, and pray good sales continue.  The pups were bathed with homemade dog soap.

It's finally starting to cool off at night, so we can open up for at least part of the night, before closing in the morning.  I linked through Swagbucks for a purchase, and hadn't received cash back, so contacted them, and quickly received it.  I also wrote them again about another purchase, in which they hadn't responded in the promised 30 days, and am waiting to hear back.  Our volunteer watermelon has several melons on it.  One was an odd shape, so I cut it open for the chickens, and found out they're yellow.  More basil than was needed for a recipe was picked, and I chopped the remainder, put it in an ice cube tray with water, and froze it.  I prefer freezing to drying basil, as it has a taste much closer to fresh.  A new recipe was tried for gnocchi with tomato broth, which used our tomatoes, basil, garlic, onion and broth.  The recipe called for straining out the vegetables before serving in the broth, but I couldn't see a good reason to do that, so didn't.  It was very good.  The refrigerator is filling up with figs, so I see jam making in my near future.  Wishing you a bountiful and blessed week.